ADDRESS 

OF 

MAJOR DAVIS ALTON, 

UNITED STATES ARMY,' 


BEFORE IHE 


WORKING MEN’S NATIONAL UNION LEAGUE, 


TVESDAV, JUNE 33, 1863, 


AT LYCEUM HALL, NEW ORLEANS. 


NEW ORLEANS; 

PBIN'TEn AT “the ERa” BOOK AXD JOB OFFICE. 

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ADDRESS 

OF 

MAJOR DAVIS ALTON, 

UNITED STATES ARMY, 


BEFORE THE 


WORKING MEN’S NATIONAL UNION LEAGUE, 


TUESDAY, JUNE 83, 1863, 


AT LYCEUM HALL, NEW ORLEANS. 


NEW ORLEANS: 

PRINTED AT “THE EKa” bOOK AND JOB OFFICE. 

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WORKING MEN’S NATIONAL UNION LEAGUE FOR THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. 


LYC.EUM HALL, 

Monday Evening, May 11, 1863. 

At a meeting of the Working Men’s National Union League, the following preamble 
and resotions were adopted, and officers elected delegates for a Convention to organize 
a State Government, viz : J. M. Bnrchard, T. J. Earhart, Dr. W. H. Hire, Mr. Fisk, Mr. D. 
Christie. 

AFuereas, The time has arrived when the unconditional Union men of the State of 
Louisiana should unite as one political organization for the purpose of making a new Con¬ 
stitution and putting into operation a free soil Stat§ Government for the State of Louisiana * 

And Whereas, Every white mechanic and laborer throughout the State, from the age ^ 
of eighteen years and upwards, should immediately take measures to organize AVorking 
Men’s Union Leagues in every parish throughout the State, with a view of carrying said 
State organization into effect; 

And AViiereas, AVith,all deference to the opinions of our loyal fellow citizens through¬ 
out the State, we are prompted to set forth the motives that impel us to action ; therefore. 

Be it 7'esolved, Tlmt the undersigned true, loyal and unconditional Union men of the 
Parisn of Orleans, do hereby form themselves into a AForking Men’s National Union League 
for the State of Louisiana, for the purpose of forming a State Constitution, in which the 
rights of white men will be secured a.id slavery abolished in the State of Louisiana. 

Resolved, That we approve and endorse all and every act or measure of His Excellency, 
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, and the Congress thereof, or which may 
hereafter be adopted by the Federal authorities for the purpose of crushing out this cruel 
and bloody rebellion against the Government of the United States, the only Government 
on the earth where the downtrodden and oppressed of all nations may find an asylum of 
peace and repose. 

Resolved, That we will advocate the right of suffrage to all white male inhabitants 
from the age of eighteen years and upwards, without regard to the length of time they may 
have resided in the State, provided they are true, loyal and unconditional Union men. 

Resolved, That we will advocate the colonization of all persons of African descent from 
the State of Louisiana. 

Resolved, That we shall affiliate with all open LTnion organizations for carrying into 
effect this State organization. 

Resolved, That we invite all Union Leagues throughout the State to communicate to 
this League their organization, setting forth the number of its members, and any other 
information on this subject for the good of this cause. 

THOS. J. EARHAPT, President 
D. CHRISTIE, Vice President 

J. R. Terry, Senior Secretary. 

A. Jehlen, Assistant Secrelai'y. 




STATE CONVENTION. 


The following resolutions were unanimously adopted at a meeting of the Working 
Men’s National Union League, at the Lyceum Hall, Tuesday evening, June 2d, 1863 : 

Wheekas, The Union Association of the Parishes of Orleans and Jefferson have, 
through delegates in general committee assembled, made and adopted a plan for calling a 
State Convention, with a view *ot framing a new Constitution for the State of Louisiana : 

And Whereas, Every white man throughout the State should immediately take 
measures to organize Working Men’s Union Leagues in every parish throughout the State, 
with a view of carrying into effect said plan ; therefore, be it 

liesolved, That the Working Men’s National Union League of the Parish of Orleans do 
^hereby ratify, approve and adopt said plan. 

Resolved, That the question of slavery is a question of capital over free labor ; and 
when we behold this bloody war, waged for the maintenance of this monopoly, which is 
contrary to the very best interests of a free people, we think it high time to sap and under¬ 
mine the foundation of this absurd and tyrannical system. 

Resolved, That we regard the man who earns his living by the sweat of his brow, as 
the very corner-stone of a Eepublican Government, and that we, as true working men, will 
no longer submit to be ruled by this Black God of the South, but that we are determined 
to have a Constitution formed, in which the rights of white men will be secured. 

Resolved, That we endorse and approve all and every act or measure of His Excellency, 
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, and the Congress thereof, or which may 
hereafter be adopted by the Federal authorities for the purpose of crushing out this cruel 
and bloody rebellion. 

Resolved, That we will not support nor vote for any man as a delegate to said Conven¬ 
tion who will not pledge himself to advocate a free soil State Government. 

T. J. EARHART, President. 

D. CHRISTIE, Vice President, 

J. R. Terry, Senior Secretary. 

"ior Secretary. 




A D D E E S S. 


The position in which the laboring classes—the free white working 
classes—the working,men of this city, of the State of Louisiana, indeed 
of the thirty-five States composing this Union, as connected with the 
wealth, the prosperity, the happiness and progress of a free people and 
the strength* of the American Republic, is as proud as that position is 
dignified and honorable. In this life and death struggle for our national 
existence, none have a deeper interest in the success of the cause of the 
Union than the working men of the whole nation ; and upon the working 
men of n'o other State rests a responsibility more weighty than upon you, 
who compose this Working Men’s Union League. The organization of 
this association—your presence here to-night—this respectable audience, 
which has, I am fully persuaded, been attracted here on this occasion by 
your influence and praiseworthy example—the earnest zeal you have mani¬ 
fested for the preservation of the Union of these States from the commence¬ 
ment of the rebellion, surrounded as you have been from that hour by trai¬ 
tors and conspirators, convinces me of your determination that this rebel¬ 
lion shall be destroyed and that this Government shall be preserved. And 
my convictions are stronger and more firmly fixed as I see the large number 
of ladies who grace this Hall by their presence this evening, thus publicly 
sanctioning the work in which you are engaged. No righteous cause can 
fail, if sanctioned, advocated and defended by bold, resolute and patriotic 
women. And I declare it to you as my candid opinion, which I frankly do 
in all the sincerity of my nature, if the workingmen of this great nation, 
supported by the moral influence and encouraging counsels of their*wives 
and daughters, resolve and determine that this Government shall be saved 
from destruction and this Union from dissolution, it will be, and no power 
on earth can, under any pretext or by any deyice, prevent it. He who 
shall attempt it will be ground to powder. 



6 


The prosecution of this war against treason and traitors, is but the 
continuance of the contest which has been going on for three thousand 
years between the aristocracy and the middle classes—the toiling 
millions” and despotic rule. During all that period, man has striven 
firmly and resolutely to obtain an acknowledgement of his civil rights 
and his rights in matters of politics or religion. Old reverence has been 
the tool used by despots. Superstitious fears have been worked upon. 
Falsehood, trickery and the dungeon have been resorted to ; while the 
bayonet and the scaffold have been used for the purpose of defrauding him 
out of his rights as an equal. History makes no mention of the period 
when man has not struggled to be free—free to eat the bread he has 
earned by the sweat of his own brow—free to breathe, speak, write and 
publish his own thoughts—free to lay the taxes himself shall pay—free 
to “ worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience.” The 
torch of civil war now blazes in fearful splendor over this liepublic, bril¬ 
liantly illuminating the pathway and guiding the footsteps of those who 
search for a simple principle and for a single natural right—the principle 
and right of personal freedom. Like water this nation is now pouring 
out its life-blood. Behold it clothed in habiliments of the deepest mourn¬ 
ing—its brave and gallant sons marching by hundreds and thousands into 
the deadly conflict, leaving their bloody testimonials on each square yard 
they traverse. And for what ? In support of this single right, and in 
defense of this one principle. 

The working men of this great city, citizens of this beautiful State, 
and working men in each of the Southern States, who bear arms in the 
face of our common enemy or contend against the usurpations of treason 
and of traitors, by their moral influence and example through associations 
such as you have organized, are new recruits in the old contest for man’s 
natural rights—for his personal freedom. You and they are but carrying 
forward the grand work of redeeming mankind from the thraldom of ty¬ 
rannical oppression, and a blighting, crushing aristocracy. And why ? 
Because the leaders of the rebellion declare—indeed, it is one of their 
fixed, determined, aye, boasted objects—should they succeed in establish¬ 
ing a^outhern Confederacy, to restrict the right of the citizen’s franchise, 
and, as a necessary consequence, to exclude him from all places of honor, 
confidence and trust, either in the gift of the people or at the suffrance of 
their constituted authorities, should he fail to come within their arbitrary 
requirements. And how ? By the imposing such a property qualification 


1 


as shall oblige every man to be the owner of a given number of acres of 
land or the master of a fixed number of negro slaves. Unless he shall 
possess these, he is to be excluded from the most highly prized right of 
an American freeman—the right of sulfrage. This accomplished, what, I 
P^ay you, becomes of the personal and private rights—the natural and 
political rights of the poor white working man of Louisiana ? He will be 
shut out from the ballot-box, debarred from all participation in any act 
pertaining to the welfare of this city, the State and General Government 
under which he is compelled to live, as would be his children and his 
children's children for all time to come. Now, then, let me ask you this 
plain question. Under such restriction, who votes, the land and the negro 
slaves, or their owner ? Because a free white man is not the owner and 
possessor of a fixed value in property, either in land or slaves, is his in¬ 
telligence thereby necessarily impaired and his judgment incapacitated ? 
Is he, on this account, incapable of exercising this personal right ? Be¬ 
cause the free white citizen is a poor man, is he, as a necessary conse¬ 
quence, incapable of distinguishing who is or is not most capable of 
administering the government and executing the laws ? 

Under the proposed regulation and restriction, he is to be excluded, 
however intelligent, however talented as a political essayist, literary 
writer and author, or gifted as a poet and an orator. The law will be 
inexorable. There will be no evading, avoiding or escaping its tyrannical 
execution. Will the spectacle not be as novel as it is humiliating, to see 
intelligent white men going to the polls with certificates in their hands 
from those authorized to issue them, and their right of voting based upon 
the therein enumerated number of acres of land and negro slaves of which 
they are certified to be the owners ? A man may have the mechanical 
ability to prepare the models and build a steam engine, an ocean steamer, 
engineer and construct a railroad, bridge the widest river and tunnel 
the highest mountain, possess in the highest degree the refined taste ot 
an artist, and with his own hands chisel, polish and produce the most 
beautiful and finished statuary—indeed, be a master of any art or science, 
capable of executing any work requiring mechanical skill and mental 
capacity, fitted to grace and adorn the most polished and refined society, 
and yet, if he is so unfortunate (and there are thousands who are) as not 
to be the owner of a given number of acres of land and a fixed number of 
negro slaves, ho is to be excluded from all right and every privilege at 
the ballot-box. Under the regulation proposed by the leaders of the 


8 


rebellion, how many are there in this audience who would be excluded by 
this iron rule from the right of franchise ? It is undeniable and unmis¬ 
takable, that the master-spirits of secession are determined to subordinate 
the poor classes—the working men of the South—sink its working 
classes under the heel of a grinding aristocracy, and over it establish a 
military despotism. 

But, let me not be misunderstood. I have no disposition to lireate 
prejudice or counsel hatred and antipathy in the minds of working men 
against the men of wealth. Captital and labor should move along, hand 
in hand, harmoniously together. Thus moving, labor depending upon 
capital for employment, and capital depending upon labor for its divi¬ 
dends, each should move without jar or discord, and the personal, private 
and public rights of the humblest working man be equally as well guarded 
and tenaciously protected as those of the wealthiest man in the state or 
nation. By the broad hands, strong arms, resolute spirit* and physical 
endurance of the working men of the State, its wealth, greatness and 
power is created. The labor of working men cannot be dispensed with, 
employed as it is, and necessarily must be, in every branch of industry 
and in every department of business enterprise. It is as unreasonable to 
suppose, and equally as absurd, that the crops of the planter and farmer will 
grow without copious rains, the steam engine move a train of railroad cars 
or propel the mammoth ocean steamship without steam, or that a sailing 
vessel can cross the Atlantic without wind and sails, as that a nation or 
state can prosper and become wealthy without the aid of manual labor— 
without the work of the strong hands “ of the toiling millions.” Yet, 
holding the prominent and important position you do as laboring men, 
because you do labor with your bare hands, self-appointed and self-con¬ 
ceited aristocrats declare your avocation a “ vulgar ” one. By them, 
whose iron heels have ever pressed hard upon your necks, you are denom¬ 
inated “ common people,” “ poor white trash,” an “ irresponsible, rabble,” 
“ the heels of society,” ‘‘ greasy mechanics,” and, because you can write 
your names legibly and read without spelling out the syllables which 
compose the words you read, they anathematize you as “ moon-struck 
philosophers,” fit only to be working men, because you are poor and 
white. 

With this estimate of the position, socially and politically, which the 
leaders of the rebellion place upon the poor white working men of the 
South, to what grade are you, as a necessary consequence, reduced ? The 


9 


answer is plain, simple and short : to the grade of negro slaves. These 
they have hitherto owned, nor do they now intend to relinquish their owner¬ 
ship in them. They declare it as a fundamental principle of their political 
economy, that capital should own its own labor, and they have given you 
no assurance that it is not their determination to own the white labor of 
the South. Tliey declare^a.s a fundamental principle on which the Southern 
Confederacy is to be based, that “equality is not the right of man,” but 
that “ equality is the right of equals only.” To be equals—to be entitled 
to a place in first class circles, in what they denominate polished society— 
to be recognized as fit associates with equals, he who thus presumes must 
be the inheritor of a large estate and a drove of negro slaves. Besides 
this inheritance, in his veins must run blood that has descended from an 
ancient and popular family. This, then, is the condition which entitles 
him to equality. He must be born rich, of popular parentage, and with 
ancient blood in his veins. To labor is “vnlgar.” To labor is the exclu¬ 
sive province of black and white slaves. 

Now, the wealth which any can possess must be acquired either 
through inheritance or by manual labor. If you perform such labor 
you are vulgar, and therefore excluded from the rights of equals, and, as 
a necessary consequence, reduced to the condition of slaves under this 
now system of Southern Confederate political economy. And, working 
men of New Orleans, the question for your own deliberation and decision 
is, whether you, intellectual, intelligent, thinking, reasoning men, will 
consent that your merit, your manhood, and the blood which circulates 
through your veins, and through the veins of your own progeny, shall be 
measured by the same rule by which the blood, quality and stock of the 
brute creation is measured and estimated ? The idea is as preposterous 
and illogical as it is supremely and ridiculously absurd. It is the ofl- 
shoot of a detested and demoralized aristocracy, driving you to the 
abasing alternative of admitting that your reasoning, thinking and reflec¬ 
ting faculties, your intelligence and intellectual capacities, are capable of 
being improved only as the dumb beasts of the field are improved ; deny¬ 
ing, practically and theoretically, that intelligent man is a part of Deity 
itself, but more nearly allied to the brute creation. The theory, the 
avowed declarations, and the logical deductions of that theory, and the 
declarations of the conspiring traitors of Louisiana and the Southern Con¬ 
federacy, lead directly to *this conclusion: “slavery is the natural and 
moral condition of the negro.” And why ? Because he was created only 


2 


10 


to labor. The natural and moral condition of the poor white working 
man should be slavery also, by the same logic, because he is poor and 
compelled to labor to obtain a subsistence. Negro slaves are property, 
like oxen, horses and mules. Poor white working men should be proper¬ 
ty, because they labor as negro slaves, oxen, horses and Vnules do. Capi¬ 
tal should own its own labor. Negro .slaves and poor white men labor, 
therefore negro slaves and poor white men should be owned by capital¬ 
ists. We hear much of negro equality, that this war is a negro war, a 
war Avhose object is to make negroes equal to white men. Now I appeal 
to you, in all candor, to tell me who are using their whole power to estab¬ 
lish negro equality. Is it President Lincoln, the army and the navy, or 
those who are conspiring to establish a Southern Confederacy ? 

‘‘ Slavery and democracy cannot exist together,” is the truthful utter¬ 
ance of an able Southern traitor. A greater truth never fell from the 
lips of mortal man. It is the firm resolve of Southern traitors, and should 
they succeed in overturning this Government they will faithfully carry 
out that resolution, to destroy the great principle of democracy, and upon 
its ruins build up a social aristocracy. For this purpose treason has 
been nursed and rebellion raised against it. For this the dissolution of 
the Union is attempted, that the institution of slavery may be strength¬ 
ened whei’e it did exist, -and extend it into territory where it is unrecog¬ 
nized by the Constitution and unknown to the laws. To accomplish this, 
to strengthen and save an institution which is tottering and in imminent 
danger of falling by reason of its own overburthened weight, even, 
indeed, if its own friends have not already destroyed it, and put an end 
to the natural conflict that ever has and always will exist between slave 
and free labor in the slave States, it becomes a matter of absolute neces¬ 
sity to save the one or drag down the poor working white men of these 
States to the status of slaves—to own you and your labor, to possess, 

. own and control the labor of yourselves, your wives, your sons and your 
daughters. When I declare to you, working men of New Orleans, that 
negro slavery has hung upon you and your public and private interests, 
and weighed down the brightest hopes of all you have in the future as 
with leaden weights, I but declare a truth you must admit and which can 
not be successfully controverted. In this declaration I am fully sustained 
by Alexander H. Stephens, who says “ This, our new Government, is 
the first in the history of the world based upon ther great physical, philo¬ 
sophical and moral truth,” that “ slavery is the natural and moral condi- 


\ 


11 


tioii of the negro.” In this declaration I am also sustained by L, W. 
Spratt, a leading traitor of Charleston, South Carolina, who, in a letter 
addressed to John Perkins, a citizen of your own State, and at the time 
the letter was written a member of the Montgomery Convention, declared 
that “ slavery and democracy could not exist together.” These declara¬ 
tions, coupled with tiie declarations of other equally distinguished South¬ 
ern traitors, and the expressions of the Southern rebel newspaper press 
generally, conviTices me beyond all question or cavil,^that the great and 
primary object of the rebellion is to reduce poor white working men in 
tlie South to the same degraded condition of the negro slave. If this is 
true, either slave labor or free white labor must fall. And it belongs to 
you, to tlie working men of this State and of the whole Union, to decide 
whether free white jnen and free white labor shall or shall not fall— 
Avhether it shall or shall not sink in gloom and irretrievable disgrace, or 
whether slavery and slave labor shall yield to you, your natural rights 
and just claims. In this very Hall, on this platform where I now stand, 
you have heard traitor orators eariiestl}^ appeal to those who emplojmd 
laborers, to employ none but slaves—not to employ white men, because 
they demoralized the negroes, and the only morals they left in a commu¬ 
nity were empty wdiisky barrels. This is the estimate placed by these 
men upon the morals of white laborers. 

If this Southern Confederacy, the aggregation of all political 
iniquities, is established, slave labor will, in the future as it has 
in the past, press you still closer to the wall, with the thumb-screws of a 
landed aristocracy turned more tightly upon you than ever before, thereby 
dragging you down to a depth lower, more degrading and deplorable than 
that of the Pussian serf or the Mexican peon. This, then, is the Govern- 
nient which traitors and rebels, the master spirits of this rebellion, are 
contriving for you ; a Government which, in its inception, instead of pro¬ 
viding for human wants, on the contrary, ingeniously contrives how not 
to provide for them, thereby intentionally nullifying and. repudiating the 
well received axiom of one of England’s most profound jurists and states¬ 
men, Edmund Burke, that “ Government is the contrivaiice of human 
wisdom to provide for human wants.” You cannot, therefore, mistake or 
misunderstand the coJidition into which they who are conspiring against 
the liberties of the Republic and your individual rights as free white men 
are resolved to sink you. Upon whatever side you turn, you hear the 
groans of the wounded, the sick and the dying. ^/To [whatever point you 


12 


. cast your eyes, you see desolation, waste and devastation, mourning and 
bitter tears. You see the rich soil of the fair fields of this beautiful State 
crimsoned with the blood of brave men. Remember, and I earnestly en¬ 
treat you not to forget, they have gallantly fallen in defense of the great 
principles of constitutional liberty and your personal and undivided free¬ 
dom. 

Before I conclude, and in consideration of all that is transpiring about 
us, you will allow me to thank you for the organization of this “ Working' 
Men’s National Union League.” Be firm in the noble stand you have taken, 
and neither be intimidated by the threats of traitors or seduced by the 
false promises of your enemies. Be vigilant in the discharge of the 
solemn and responsible duties you have self-imposed by the organization 
of this League. Be zealous and untiring in your efforts to increase 
its numbers and in enlarging the circle of your influence. Let me conjure 
you to never tire in your labors to suppress this causeless rebellion, even 
though the cannon of the enemy shall boom at your doors. Let me also 
conjure you to stand firmly and unflinchingly .by each other in this sad 
hour of your country’s peril. In this dark hour, when your individual 
rights are subjected to a test as cruel as it is fiery, be true to ;fourselves. 
Stand by that glorious old flag, ‘‘that banner of beauty and emblem of 
glory.” Stand by the Constitution and the Government, the Union and 
the laws, and those who have been chosen and sworn faithfully to admin¬ 
ister and execute them, and the cause of the Union will triumph, and the 
personal and political rights of the working men of the South will De so 
securely established that no power on earth can overturn or destroy them. 
Be true to yourselves, to the great principle of personal freedom, and 
working men will hereafter occupy the proud position intended by the 
Fathers of the Republic and contemplated by the genius of our free insti¬ 
tutions. Remember ! remember ! and I earnestly charge you never to 
forget, that the triumph of our cause will be the guarantee that hereafter, 
in Louisiana, in all the South— 

“ Every man shall act a glorious part, 

If sound in mind and of a loyal heart, 

Prompt to sustain the honor of our sires, 

Prompt to defend our altars and our fires, 

Forever battling in our good old cause. 

Our noble Constitution and our laws.’’ 












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